Bill Gates Divulges Microsoft's 'Moist, Chewy' Future ... to Seinfeld?
In the first ad released by Crispin Porter+Bogusky for Microsoft, Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld meet serendipitously at Shoe Circus, a Payless ShoeSource-type store. Seinfeld helps him pick out shoes. Made of pleather. Significant glances are exchanged, immigrants gawk, and churros are shared.
Thus ingratiated with one of the world's richest (and thriftiest?) men, Seinfeld poses the question we'd all ask, given the chance (and a serious case of munchies): "Are they ever gonna come up with something that'll make our computers moist and chewy like cake so we can eat 'em while we're working?"
Gates gives Seinfeld a subtle but sassy little ass-shake to denote "yes."
Weirded out? That's CP+B for ya. The spot's left of center and sort of juvenile, even derivative of YouTube culture. But it's also appealing to see Bill Gates depicted as Ordinary Dude, platinum member of a cheap shoe retailer. Will it turn him into a quirky -- but beloved! -- brand ambassador a la BK's King? It could. We'll see.
The ad is part of a series featuring Seinfeld, who reportedly made $10 million for his appearances. Yep. Seinfeld = three percent of the ad budget. That's almost cocky.
Topic: Agencies, Brands, Campaigns, Celebrity, Commercials, Strange, Television, Trends and Culture
Comments
Huh?
Were Alex and Andrew on vacation during the creative internal on this one?
WTF? This is not only confusing, but pathetic.
Have no fear, Apple.
Chiat obviously knows what they're doing.
CP+B, not so much.
Is the altitude in Boulder getting to you guys?
Huh?
Were Alex and Andrew on vacation during the creative internal on this one?
WTF? This is not only confusing, but pathetic.
Have no fear, Apple.
Chiat obviously knows what they're doing.
CP+B, not so much.
Is the altitude in Boulder getting to you guys?
I do like Jerry Seinfeld, but this is a pretty lame effort.
Boring. Completely and utterly boring. Witless too. ("Make our computers moist and chewy"????)
As someone on Fark wrote, "awkward, stilted advert with a strange uncomfortable dream-like feeling to it."
And of course it doesn't mention or reflect on a product, service, or company. But that aside, it fails in every conceivable respect. (By comparison, the Jerry/Superman clips years ago were genius.)
Just saying...this campaign is a complete rip-off of the Jerry ads with Superman for AMEX. Link: http://www.thekmiecs.com/marketing/bill-gates-and-jerry-seinfeld-microsoft-ad/
and apparently it's just the tip of the iceberg: http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/09/04/microsoft-ads-first-phase-to-engage-consumers-spark-conversation/
Does it bother anyone else that the shoe is called Conquistador and a presumed Latin American couple eating churros noted this fact in Spanish? Is Microsoft trying to spread technology imperialism to Mexicans?
does anyone get the fact that this is just a teaser to what is ahead, and the whole point is to make the audience go WTF? and talk about what it could possibly mean...cause that is what every episode of seinfeld did...
or are you all to hung up on crispin hating to be intelligent specimen?
I have only a vague idea what "crispin" even is -- I'm not involved in advertising in any way. The ad just sucked because it's boring and ineffective. As a "teaser", it fails, because it's not remotely interesting other than to see old Seinfeld again since his last bee costume. Worst of all, the writing was bloody AWFUL. Less interesting and relevant than a late-term Bob Hope routine. Sadder than a Pauly Shore film festival. As funny as... oh come on that's the problem, it's not remotely funny.
What you guys dont know is that JERRY HIMSELF wrote most of that commercial.
Writing was awful? i think you don't have a clue on what good writing is then. Because if I recall correctly, he "wrote" Seinfeld.
Larry David was the head writer on Seinfeld, if I recall. I don't the it's all that bad, except, you can replace Bill Gates with Howard Schultz, Michael Dell or any other public-facing CEO. In that, it's unoriginal and uninspiring.
But, I kind of liked it, as a simple, fun short — advertising and brand aside.
I think this tooks some guts, and money, for MS to make. But, the humor was flat and unfocused, the spot too quiet and long, and the message unclear. Gates and Seinfeld appeared neither buddies nor rivals, just two quiet and weird old men wandering around a mall that for some reason was full of Mexicans.
I'm no fan of the low road Apple ads have taken, but at least their purpose is clear.
This is probably the dumbest ad ever. I guess it's supposed to be funny? No one is laughing. There is no excuse when you have the biggest budget, the richest man in the world and the most expensive comic of all times. Is it mandatory that every ad these guys do ends in some kind of butt joke? Laaaame!
Hats off to Microsoft. A much different approach than 'Start Me Up' by Rolling Stones but it is a nice teaser to start conversations about Microsoft. And...the majority of the US is a Seinfeld fan. It looks like Microsoft is following the trend of showing its true brand personality by publicizing the personality of its founder.